November Fell In The Bole Of A Tree

Their eyes will never see tomorrow.

Hidden within the bole of a tree,

they wept through darkened roots of sorrow.

Imprisoned, yesterday’s memory,

whose eyes will never see tomorrow.

 

Kokosing Lake swirls with autumn mist,

and the wind scatters the peace of mind

of those left behind with hand in fist

to suffer the worst of humankind.

 

Night weighs heavy on the quartered moon.

The wood smoke rises over the hill,

and skeletal leaves in death commune

in the fade of life-giving chlorophyll.

 

Ivy trails a wall of ancient stone,

whose splintered beam is about to break;

but none should suffer in grief alone

when suffering for another’s sake.

 

November counts away the hours

as night outpaces the light of day.

Brushed black silk and forgotten flowers,

intermingled, in the dust do lay.

 

Within a column of smooth, gray bark,

in the heartwood of evergreen sweep,

where lovers are known to carve their mark,

pale faces lay in the arms of sleep.

 

The once bright-eyed and smiling faces

are now lifeless in a leafless tree,

and blood-red stains resound in traces

in rings of a mournful threnody.

 

Mankind slips into a tangled knot.

A nudge of wind is perched on the pine,

and life is twisted into a garrote

whose kisses are death to thee and thine.

 

How sad to suffer ourselves to die!

When night encircles, we cease to be.

One man’s laughter is another’s cry

whose lone comfort is insanity.

 

The eyes are flooded with sanguine tears

over loved ones that have been taken

whose lights have dimmed and whose hopes and fears

you won’t find trace of when you waken.

Author's Note

A poem about Kody Maynard (11), Tina Herrmann (32), Stephanie Sprang (41), and Tanner, the family pet. All were murdered, dismembered, and their bodies lowered into the bole of a beech tree, November, 2010, Ohio.

Reviews

[icelandicblue]

God this was so dark and difficult to read yet I was compelled from start to finish to do so. The quiet trees awaiting their gruesome delivery and those bodies lying against the stark beauty in absolute stillness was unnerving at best. What inhumanity we are capable of. You've told this terrible story with a heavy pen and you've captured the horror against the setting masterfully.

[Dean]

I don't see chlorophyll as life-giving, but your poetry is image-rich. That is your forte, and you are wise
to stick with it.

[Gleb Zavlanov]

What a dark, gruesome poem with glistening silver lining behind it. You have woven yet another extraordinary masterpiece that must be kept within the hearts of poets forever. You have deeply touched me and I can't say how enraged I am with the horrible murder, yet how amazed I am by the beauty of your words.

[Forest Green]

What a soggy, boggy reality where life is lost to madness. Cruelty of mind and heart, unchained, loosed against the world. You're poem brings to light the permanence of the horror, and the vague, misty hope that something, someone, somewhere, might possibly balance the score.

Amazing touch...

[Mark]

Linda,
No words of mine could do justice to this masterful tribute. Honestly, until I reached the end and read your Note, I had presumed it was some sort of foreboding metaphor of the challenge posed to life by death, or some such. What a gut-punch to realize the poem is based on a true occurance. Reminded me somewhat of two books--In Cold Blood, read a few months back, and (believe it or not!) The Chronicles of Narnia, wherein the tree from which the wardrobe had been carved was magical because it contained the remains of it's sorcerer-owner. What dark magics do OUR limbs possess, I am forced to wonder? But I probably should not, or Life might not give the right answer!

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

How can such horrific tragedy befall on humanity... you graced these people with a wonderful tribute...

The once bright-eyed and smiling faces
are now lifeless in a leafless tree,
and blood-red stains resound in traces
in rings of a mournful threnody.

this part here really hit me in the gut... such a sorrowful story but so very well written.

[MichaelsLyric.com]

Your piece of writing talks about a tragic disappearance of lifes. However, your piece also guarantees that their lifes will not be forgotten. This is a dignified, beautiful way of mourning the loss of innocent human beings. Thank you for writing.

[Richard Williams]

A wonderful poem and tribute, well crafted that flows and evokes feelings with great lines and sharp imagery. I like the "darkened roots of sorrow", and "in the fade of life-giving chlorophyll". Excellence continues.

[emmajoy]

' Within a column of smooth, gray bark, ~ in the heartwood of evergreen sweep, ~ where lovers are known to carve their mark, ~ pale faces lay in the arms of sleep. ' .. .. I see those lines as an opening shot to a dark film.

In spite of its most horrific content, your writing is extraordinarily calm; yet it describes an event too awful to understand or condone. Had your writing not been so fluent, the content would have given me nightmares .. maybe will.

To think your poem is based on truth ..

Whatever you write about rises way above the usual.

[Dream Weaver]

Within ones soul darkness erupts causing
cataclysmic atrocities. Hence humanity
shutters…